Quick Shots: White Sox should have kept Thome, need more hitting

The Twins’ two left-handed DHs (Jason Kubel and, when he’s not catching, Joe Mauer) batted .365 and .300 with 28 HRs each, yet they had room for Jim Thome. The White Sox said they couldn’t re-sign their best hitter (Thome had a team-high .864 OPS in 2009) because they needed DH at-bats for Andruw Jones, Omar Vizquel and Mark Kotsay.

Jones batted .214, .158 and .222 the last three years. Vizquel has averaged fewer than four HRs in 21 seasons and Mark Kotsay fewer than nine HRs in 13 seasons. If things break right, the Sox should have one of the best starting rotations in the American League, but it’s going to be hard to win with a toothless lineup in the home-run haven of U.S. Cellular Park.

A salute to pep bands

Recent girls basketball games at Auburn, Boylan, Dakota and Lutheran reminded me how much bands add to the sports atmosphere. If I close my eyes, I can still hear the Barnesville (Minn.) band playing “The High Chaparral” theme song while we warmed up for home wrestling meets. Good pep bands even make “Funky Town” and Bon Jovi sound good. At the risk of irritating my daughter and her Auburn bandmates, no one does “Low Rider” better than Boylan.

No picks doesn’t mean no hope

The Bears traded this year’s their first- and second-round draft picks, but that doesn’t mean the Bears can’t add talent. Nineteen undrafted players started last week in the NFC and AFC championship games. The offensive line may have been Chicago’s worst unit last year. Well, the Super Bowl-favorite Colts started three undrafted players on a line that gave up a league-low 13 sacks. The Saints’ two leading rushers (Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell) were undrafted, and leading receiver Marques Colston was drafted in the last (seventh) round.

Second-choice Saints are stars

The Bears might not hire their first pick for offensive coordinator. Five candidates — Jeremy Bates, Hue Jackson, Rob Chudzinski, Ken Zampese and Tom Clements — have signed elsewhere, elected to stay with their own teams or been denied permission to talk to the Bears. But that doesn’t mean Chicago would have hired any of them. Nor does it mean a second (or third) choice might not prove better. The Super Bowl Saints got their coach after the Packers hired Mike McCarthy instead of Sean Payton and their quarterback after the Dolphins signed Daunte Culpepper over Drew Brees.

The wrong commercial problem

Tim Tebow and his mom will interrupt our Super Bowl Sunday in a commercial telling how she defied her doctor’s recommendation to have an abortion when she was sick on a mission trip to the Philippines and instead gave birth to a Heisman Trophy winner. Terry O’Neill, the president of the National Organization for Women, calls the planned ad “extraordinarily offensive and demeaning.” Quick Shots, the father of four daughters who watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, says if they want to make the Super Bowl family friendly, they should ditch all the risque commercials, starting with GoDaddy.com.

Straight from Favre’s mouth

Best sports Tweet of 2010 comes from former firejoemorgan.com Blogger Ken Tremendous: “Favre says 2010 return is ‘highly unlikely.’ So, that’s the end of that.”

Best team has worst coach

After the Vikings fumbled six times, Brett Favre threw two horrible interceptions and Minnesota was pushed out of field-goal range by a 12-men in the huddle penalty in the final seconds, ESPN.com wrote, “There aren’t enough fingers to point at all the Vikings who screwed up.” Yes there are. All you need is one. Every one of those things points back to coach Brad Childress. Lovie Smith might not make the Bears better, but neither does he drag his team down as much as Childress, who has had the most talented team in the NFL for two years.

Matt Trowbridge’s Quick Shots on Sports appear Sundays. He can be reached at 815-987-1383 or mtrowbridge@rrstar.com.